Title – Through The Eye Of A Shipper – S10 E15 Bridging the Gulf

Authors' Names - Carol and Michi or Michi and Carol

Rating – GS (explined at Michi's web site)

Paring – Harm and Mac

Spoilers – Season 10 Episode 15 – Bridging the Gulf

Disclaimer – JAG belongs to DPB, CBS, and Paramount.

Summary- How 'Bridging the Gulf' should've been continued when you saw it through the eye of a shipper…

Author's Notes-

1. Our plan is it to revisit every episode from season 10. However, this series doesn't have a strict rule. Sometimes it may be a follow-up, sometimes it could be a changed scene, or even a change to the entire episode. And if that doesn't work we could always do a 'missing scene'-story. This means the length of the story is based on the way we want to 'handle' the revisit. But don't worry…we plan to use more then 150 words!

2. A special thanks goes to our beta-god Witchy V. Great job like always! However, we can't post a FF without our usual CM warning, so here it comes. English is not our native language (yup, even Carol wants to use this statement LOL). Take this as a fair warning!

3. Since this series will deal with a just aired episode, it means that we risk having a FF that might seem like someone else's. There's hope that our ideas are unique, but should that not be the case we apologize and swear to our god and the chocolate that we did not know it or do it on purpose.

4. Feedback is always welcome.

5. The rest of the series you can either find at Carol's website or Michi's website.

McMurphy's Bar

Washington, DC

10:34 PM

Mac walked into the bar and smiled at the bartender when he greeted her. She made her way to the bar and he handed her a club soda.

"Been a long time, Colonel," the bartender said with a smile.

"Yeah, it has, Mike," Mac smiled as she sipped the club soda.

Mike nodded his head in the direction to the back of the bar where there were booths. "This seems to be a popular place tonight."

Mac looked in the direction that Mike had pointed. "How long has he been here?"

"At least two hours. He's only had one beer and about two cigars."

Mac did a double take at Mike. "He's smoking again?"

"He seemed pretty upset when he came in, but hasn't said anything to anyone. Especially to the women who keep trying to go over and sit with him," Mike told Mac, hoping that she would get her friend out of his slump.

Mac nodded her head. "I'll go and talk to him."

Mike grinned. "If there is anything that can get a man in a good mood, it is a good conversation with his best friend," Mike paused and looked at Mac carefully. "Especially when she's as good looking as you are."

Mac chuckled and picked up her club soda. "How's your wife doing?"

"Great, the triplets are due next month."

"Tell Kelly I said 'hi'," Mac said before she moved across the bar to the booths in the back.

She stood in front of the booth. "Do you know how to answer your phone?"

Harm looked up at Mac with a haggard expression. "I don't want to talk to anyone, Mac."

Mac looked him over and knew something was bothering him. She sat down and smiled. "Good thing I'm your best friend and not anyone."

"You don't want to be my best friend, Mac."

"Why not?" Mac asked.

Harm took a puff of his cigar. "I tend to argue with them."

"Oh, I'll agree to that fact. What's really bothering you, Harm?"

"Sturgis and I got into an argument aboard the JFK."

Mac took another sip of her club soda. "You two haven't gotten along in quite some time."

"Yeah. He thinks I'm jealous."

"About not being chosen to be acting JAG?" Mac asked.

Harm gave her a disgusted look. "Does everyone know that but me?"

"That would appear to be the case," Mac commented. "What else was said?"

"I called him a prig."

"Sanctimonious?"

Harm gave her a questioning look. "Yeah. How did you know that?"

"He once called me that."

"Ever since he was JAG he's been walking around with a stick up his ass."

Mac stared at Harm and knew he was upset, but the way he was acting reminded her of high school. "He was doing his job. What did you expect him to do? Act like your basketball buddy when he was in charge?"

"No, I expected him to act human." Harm thought back to the time when Sturgis was acting JAG. "The two of you didn't get along any better, if I recall."

"He and I did not get along for a totally different reason. He knew something and wouldn't tell me when it greatly affect my life at that time."

"He knew about Clay," Harm said in a soft voice.

Mac's eyes dropped to the table. "Yeah, but it's water under the bridge." She took a breath and looked Harm in the eyes. "You two were friends, what happened?"

Harm sighed. "I guess we… we just forgot how to be friends."

"Are you going to talk to him again?"

"Maybe once I forget how to be the hotshot."

Mac chuckled. "Well, you've got some competition in that department now."

"What?"

"The new guy. Lt. Hotshot. He thinks he's god's gift to lawyering and isn't above any trick to get what he wants."

"Tell me how you really feel." Harm grinned at Mac's honesty.

"Pray for me. I've been selected to take him under my wing and train him."

"You did a good job on Bud."

"We did a good job on Bud," Mac corrected him. "But this guy. I almost kicked him when I first met him."

"Why?" Harm asked.

Mac sighed. "We bumped into each other in the hallway and my papers fell to the ground. He went to pick them up and on his way up from leaning over he took a detour and eyed me like I was a piece of meat."

Harm felt his temper rise a bit at this information. "Really."

"Yeah, but I'll just keep my eyes on him. I'm going to be watching him very carefully."

"Yeah, I'll be doing the same," Harm admitted.

Mac chuckled. "What do you say we get out of here and catch a movie or something?"

Harm looked at his watch. "It's almost eleven. How about we rent something and go to my place and watch it?"

"Sounds even better."

Harm placed a few dollars on the table and the two of them exited the booth and the bar. As they walked outside, Harm took a few more puffs from his cigar.

"When did you pick that up again?" Mac asked curiously.

"I tend to get high stung when I'm up on murder charges… again. Why, does it bother you?"

Mac smiled at him. "I could never date a guy who smokes."

Harm was about to say something, but they were interrupted by the lights of a car pulling into the parking lot. Harm recognized the car. "Sturgis."

"Just behave," Mac jokingly told Harm as Sturgis got out of his car and walked towards them.

"Mac, it's nice to see you," Sturgis said.

"Sturgis, how are you?" Mac asked.

"Good." He looked over at Harm. "Good to see you made it back safely, Harm."

"Still swapping lies I see," Harm said with a tone of discontent in his voice.

Sturgis looked at his old friend. "You know, man, I'm not going to get into this with you. You're not worth it."

"I'm not worth you finding the facts. You just wanted to see me fry, didn't you?" Harm said with anger as he looked at his old roommate with hurt.

Sturgis took a step and was standing nose to nose with Harm. "Is that what you want? You want to take it out on me? Man, you really are a piece of work, aren't you Harm?"

"Guys, please," Mac tried to dispute.

Harm felt his anger grow. "I may be a piece of work, but I'm able to find the truth."

"The truth was that you didn't follow orders."

"I saved that oil rig!"

"Is that what you want? Another award? You are so full of yourself, Rabb." Sturgis said. He glanced at Mac. "Are you sure he's worth your time? You can do so much better," he told her with sarcasm.

Mac was about to say something but Harm grabbed Sturgis coat. "Leave her out of this. This is between you and me."

"Harm," Mac said with a warning voice, fearing that this would go slightly out of hands.

Sturgis pushed Harm and before either one of them knew it, Harm had hit Sturgis in the cheek, and made him fall to the ground due to the intensity of the hit. Mac grabbed Harm's other arm to stop him from hitting Sturgis again. Sturgis angrily looked up from the ground and touched his cheek.

Sturgis stood up, still pressing his hand to his cheek. Harm stared at him with disgust and Mac had a torn look on her face. She wanted to help Sturgis, but she knew she was the only thing holding Harm back from hitting him again.

"You know what, Mac. You said you're in love with him. Maybe you think you can fix him and change the world. There are times when the two of you act just like each other. You deserve him." Sturgis dusted himself off. Then he walked out of the parking lot and went inside the bar.

Harm stood there in shock that he just hit his oldest friend. Then the words Sturgis said slowly sunk into him. "What did he mean, Mac?"

Mac felt her temper rise now. "Nothing, Harm." She let go of his arm and picked up the hand he'd hit Sturgis with and examined it in the dark parking lot. "Does this hurt?"

Harm grimaced. "No."

"Lair," Mac muttered. She smoothed her hand across his knuckles and felt some torn skin and a little bit of blood. She tried to unbend his fingers, but stopped when Harm took a sharp intake of breath. "Let's go to the hospital. Something might be broken."

"It's not broken, just sore," Harm told her.

Mac took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "I'm not about to argue with you. So let's go to your place and I'll take care of your hand."

"You don't need to do that."

"Yes, I do," Mac told him. "Because if I leave you alone, you might go into the bar and then I'll be bailing you out of jail in the morning."

Harm didn't say anything; he just followed Mac as she walked towards their cars.

Harm's Apartment

North of Union Station

Washington, DC

11:20 PM

"Where's your first aid kit?" Mac asked Harm when they walked into his apartment.

"In the cabinet under the bathroom sink," Harm told her tiredly and made his way to the couch.

"Okay, I'll get it. Be right back," she said before leaving him alone in the living room to get the first aid kit out of his bathroom.

Harm exhaustingly flopped on the couch. He threw his head against the back of it and closed his eyes for a moment. He still couldn't believe what happened earlier. He'd hit one of his oldest friends. "I shouldn't have done it," Harm softly said as he felt Mac taking her place right next to him. Then he opened his eyes and looked at her. "I don't believe I did this."

"I know, Harm. But don't beat yourself up on it, please," Mac told him softly while starting to clean his injured hand. "I think a talk between the two of you was long overdue. It just got slightly out of hand," she continued with a chuckle.

Harm had to chuckle at her comment and he knew she was right. "Yeah, you do have a point there."

"Due to everything that happened on the JFK I'm not really surprised. I'm sure on Monday you two can get it out of your system and move on. Hopefully without beating the crap out of each other," Mac said with a grin.

Harm sighed before starting to smile. "I hope so. But maybe you should be around, just as a precaution."

Mac giggled. "I'm not sure if that's a wise idea. At first I'd have to cool down myself," she told him and took the ointment out of the first aid kit. "Right now there's nothing I would like to do more than punch him myself."

"Ouch," Harm yelled and pulled his hand out of her grip when the ointment hit the open wound. "Damn it, that hurt."

"Oh, come on. Don't be such a big baby, Harm," Mac sternly told him and took his hand once more into hers. "If it makes you feel better, I'll even do the boo-boo cure."

"It's a deal," he told her with a smile and relaxed again, as his mind wondered what the boo-boo cure was. "So you want to punch him yourself. It wouldn't happen to have anything to do with his comment earlier at McMurphy's, would it?" Harm softly asked. This question had been on the tip of his tongue since they left the parking lot.

Mac put a band-aid on the treated wound before letting go of Harm's hand with a sigh. "Yes," she quietly answered him, not daring to look at him.

"Mac, look at me, please," Harm softly said and placed his finger under her chin to raise her head. "What was he talking about?" He wanted to know as soon as she was looking at him again.

Mac took a deep breath. "It happened a few years ago. Do you remember the case I worked on with Sturgis? About Commander Aiken? The one where I had those dreams about her?"

Harm chuckled. "Yeah, I remember how you annoyed Sturgis with your ability."

"I know. He made it very clear at the beginning how annoyed he was," Mac responded with a smile. "But the more we worked together, the better it got. One day, we were talking in my office, and I somehow let it slip."

"That you're in love with me?"

"Yes." Mac answer came only in a whisper.

"Did you mean it?" Harm softly asked, being slightly surprised about her confession.

"Yes, I did."

"Sturgis never told me about it."

"I made him promise not to," Mac explained with a little smile before shrugging her shoulders. "I guess he keeps his promises just as long as he wants to."

Harm took a deep breath "Is it still true? Are you still in love with me?" He quietly asked. He simply needed to know.

Mac bit her lower lip and closed her eyes for a second. "Yes," she whispered. "I think I never stopped loving you. I just took a little detour, which got somehow out of control."

Harm simply nodded his head before he got up from the couch and made his way to the bedroom.

"Harm?" Mac called worried behind him and got up from the couch as well. 'Oh my god, what have you done now, MacKenzie?' She asked herself, afraid that her confession may have driven him away.

Slowly she made her way to the entrance of his bedroom but stopped when Harm came out of it again, just to walk into the kitchen. "Harm, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…," she started to apologize in a fluster but quit when he raised his hand. "Harm, please?"

"Just a second, Mac. I have to throw these away," he answered and showed her what he held in his other hand.

"Cigars?" Mac asked astonished.

"Yeah, my cigars. These are all I have," Harm explained with a smile before throwing the little casket with the cigars into the trash can. "There you go."

"I'm not sure I understand, Harm," Mac told him softly, still unsure of what to think about his behavior and none-response.

Harm slowly made his way to where Mac stood. "You told me that you could never date a man who smoked," he started to explain tenderly as he stood in front of her. Cupping her cheeks into his palms, he pulled her head so close to his that they could feel their hot breaths on each other's faces. "So I guess I had to get rid of my cigars to be with you."

Harm smiled and got one of Mac's in response. Slowly he bent his head to gently touch her lips with his own. "I love you too, Sarah," he tenderly told her as soon as they broke their kiss again. "Now do the boo-boo cure."

"Huh?" Mac only responded, still out of space due to the changes of the evening.

"My hand. You promised to do the boo-boo cure," Harm gently reminded her with a grin and showed Mac his bandaged hand. "It hurts."

"Oh, we can't have that now, can we?" Mac asked with a smirk before kissing his injured hand. "There, is that better?" She asked in a whisper.

"Much better," He told her quietly before kissing her on the lips once more, this time with much more passion and urging.

Slowly they made their way to his bedroom while never stopping their embrace and kiss.

The rest of the night they celebrated their ability to finally admit their love and made plans for their first real date. A date at the gym in Georgetown, just to make sure they wouldn't spend all their energy this weekend on each other, and to also insure the meeting with Sturgis on Monday wouldn't get out of their hands again.

The End